Method, apparatus, terminal, and storage medium for elevation surrounding flight control

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, an apparatus, a terminal, and a storage medium for elevation surrounding flight control. The method includes: obtaining surrounding parameter information of an unmanned aerial vehicle; determining, according to the surrounding parameter information, an elevation surrounding trajectory to be surrounded, where the elevation surrounding trajectory includes a plane with the point of interest as a center and the surrounding radius as a radius, and the plane where the elevation surrounding trajectory is located is perpendicular to a horizontal plane; controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly along the elevation surrounding trajectory.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.17/451,355 filed on Oct. 19, 2021, which is a continuation ofinternational application No. PCT/CN2020/085083, filed on Apr. 16, 2020,which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201910319646.9,filed on Apr. 19, 2019, all disclosures of which are incorporated hereinby reference in their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application relates to the technical field of unmanned aerialvehicles, and in particular, to a method, an apparatus, a terminal, anda storage medium for elevation surrounding flight control.

BACKGROUND

At present, unmanned aerial vehicle products are mostly used for aerialphotographing, and for consumer-grade unmanned aerial vehicle products,some flight and aerial photographing actions that originally need richaerial photographing manipulation experience and fine operating areintelligently and automatically implemented by programs, thereby betteropening the market of consumer-grade unmanned aerial vehicle products.

An existing unmanned aerial vehicle has an intelligent flight functionof surrounding a point of interest. By this function, image capturing inapplications such as aerial photography or security inspection can beperformed during flight around the point of interest. However, existingsurrounding around a point of interest is limited to surrounding flighton a horizontal plane, which limits a capture viewing angle of a lens onan unmanned aerial vehicle for image capturing, and further reducing thefunctional practicability of the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly around apoint of interest.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, an apparatus, aterminal, and a storage medium for elevation surrounding flight controlto implement elevation surrounding flight of an unmanned aerial vehiclein different capture viewing angles.

In a first aspect, embodiments of the present invention provide a methodfor elevation surrounding flight control, applied to an unmanned aerialvehicle, the unmanned aerial vehicle including a fuselage and aphotographing apparatus disposed in the fuselage, and the methodincluding: obtaining surrounding parameter information of the unmannedaerial vehicle, where the surrounding parameter information includesposition information of a point of interest and a surrounding radius ofthe unmanned aerial vehicle; determining, according to the surroundingparameter information, an elevation surrounding trajectory to besurrounded, where the elevation surrounding trajectory is a plane withthe point of interest as a center and the surrounding radius as aradius, and the plane where the elevation surrounding trajectory islocated is perpendicular to a horizontal plane; controlling the unmannedaerial vehicle to fly along the elevation surrounding trajectory.

In a second aspect, the embodiments of the present invention provide anapparatus for elevation surrounding flying control, configured in anunmanned aerial vehicle, the unmanned aerial vehicle including afuselage and a photographing apparatus disposed in the fuselage, and theapparatus including: an information obtaining module, configured toobtain surrounding parameter information of the unmanned aerial vehicle,where the surrounding parameter information includes positioninformation of a point of interest and a surrounding radius of theunmanned aerial vehicle; a trajectory determining module, configured todetermine, according to the surrounding parameter information, anelevation surrounding trajectory to be surrounded, where the elevationsurrounding trajectory is a plane with the point of interest as a centerand the surrounding radius as a radius, and the plane where theelevation surrounding trajectory is located is perpendicular to ahorizontal plane; a flight control module, configured to control theunmanned aerial vehicle to fly along the elevation surroundingtrajectory.

In a third aspect, the embodiments of the present invention furtherprovide an unmanned aerial vehicle, including: a fuselage; arms,connected to the fuselage; a power apparatus, disposed on the arm; aphotographing apparatus, connected to the fuselage, where thephotographing apparatus includes a pan-tilt head and a camera connectedto the pan-tilt head; at least one processor; and a memory incommunication connection with the at least one processor, where thememory stores instructions capable of being executed by the at least oneprocessor, and the instructions, when executed by the at least oneprocessor, cause the at least one processor to perform the method forelevation surrounding flight control according to any one of theembodiments of the present invention.

The embodiments of the present invention provide a method, an apparatus,a terminal, and a storage medium for elevation surrounding flyingcontrol. In the method, first, surrounding parameter information of anunmanned aerial vehicle is obtained; then an elevation surroundingtrajectory to be surrounded is determined according to the surroundingparameter information; and subsequently, a capture viewing angle mode isobtained, and finally the unmanned aerial vehicle is controlledaccording to the capture viewing angle mode to fly along the elevationsurrounding trajectory. By using the method, elevation flight of theunmanned aerial vehicle around a point of interest in differentattitudes based on different image capture viewing angles can beimplemented, thereby providing a wider flight mode for specialinspection scenes such as bridge surrounding inspection and securityinspection, and improving functional practicability of the unmannedaerial vehicle to fly around a point of interest.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To describe the technical solutions of the embodiment of the presentinvention more clearly, the drawings needed in the embodiments will bebriefly described below. It should be understood that the followingdrawings illustrate only certain embodiments of the present inventionand therefore should not be taken as a limitation to the scope, and forthose of ordinary skill in the art, other related drawings may beobtained from these drawings without creative efforts.

FIG. 1 a is a schematic flowchart of a method for elevation surroundingflight control according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 1B is an example structural block diagram of an unmanned aerialvehicle for flight aerial photography according to Embodiment 1 of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 a is a schematic flowchart of a method for elevation surroundingflight control according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

FIG. 2 b is a schematic diagram of a first flight attitude of theunmanned aerial vehicle when flying along an elevation surroundingtrajectory;

FIG. 2 c is a schematic diagram of a second flight attitude of theunmanned aerial vehicle when flying along the elevation surroundingtrajectory;

FIG. 3 is structural block diagram of an apparatus for elevationsurrounding flying control according to Embodiment 3 of the presentinvention; and

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a hardware structure of an unmannedaerial vehicle according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The present invention will be described in further detail below withreference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It is to beunderstood that the specific embodiments described herein are intendedto explain rather than limit the present invention. In addition, itshould be noted that for ease of description, only parts, instead of allstructures, related to the present invention are shown in theaccompanying drawing. It should be noted that similar numerals andletters denote similar items in the following drawings, and therefore,once an item is defined in one drawing, it does not need to be furtherdefined and explained in subsequent drawings. In addition, in thedescription of the present invention, the terms “first”, “second”, andthe like are used only to distinguish descriptions and cannot beunderstood to indicate or imply relative importance.

Embodiment 1

FIG. 1 a is a schematic flowchart of a method for elevation surroundingflight control according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Themethod can be applied to the case of controlling an unmanned aerialvehicle to perform surrounding flight around a point of interest. Themethod may be performed by an apparatus for elevation surrounding flyingcontrol in the embodiments of the present invention. The apparatus maybe implemented by using a software and/or hardware mode, and may bespecifically integrated in the unmanned aerial vehicle.

It should be noted that the method provided by the embodiments of thepresent invention specifically relate to a consumer-grade unmannedaerial vehicle product with intelligent aerial photography. Theconsumer-grade unmanned aerial vehicle product is an unmanned aerialvehicle for flight aerial photography, and a functional program can beintegrated in the unmanned aerial vehicle, so that the unmanned aerialvehicle can fly autonomously through the integrated functional program,and that an execution body of the method provided in this embodiment canbe an unmanned aerial vehicle.

In addition, FIG. 1B is an example structural block diagram of anunmanned aerial vehicle for flight aerial photography according toEmbodiment 1 of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1B, a profile ofthe consumer-grade unmanned aerial vehicle specifically includes: afuselage 11, arms 12 located at four corners at the top of the fuselage11, and a photographing apparatus 13 located at a side end of thefuselage 11 and connected to the fuselage 11. Power apparatuses thatdrive the arms 12 to rotate are disposed in the arms 12. Thephotographing apparatus 13 mainly includes a pan-tilt head and a cameraconnected to the pan-tilt head. The camera may be configured to captureimage information and the pan-tilt head is configured to adjust acapture viewing angle of the camera.

It is to be noted that, for a consumer-grade unmanned aerial vehiclehaving the profile described above, an end of the fuselage where thephotographing apparatus is disposed may be marked as a vehicle head,this end of the vehicle head is used as a front end of the unmannedaerial vehicle, and an end opposite the vehicle head is used as a rearend of the unmanned aerial vehicle. If a direction of the vehicle headis used as a forward direction, left and right ends of the vehicle headmay be used as left and right sides of the unmanned aerial vehicle,respectively.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1 a , a method for elevation surroundingflight control provided by an embodiment of the present inventionincludes the following steps.

In S101, surrounding parameter information of the unmanned aerialvehicle is obtained.

In this embodiment, the surrounding parameter information may bespecifically understood as parameter information used for determining asurrounding plane required during surrounding flight of the unmannedaerial vehicle. The surrounding parameter may specifically include:position information of a point of interest, a surrounding radius, asurrounding direction, and a surrounding speed of the unmanned aerialvehicle, and the like, where the point of interest may be understood asa center that is preset by a user and to be surrounded by the unmannedaerial vehicle in surrounding flight, the position information of thepoint of interest may specifically include geographic coordinates of thepoint of interest, and the geographic coordinates may be specificallyunderstood as latitude and longitude values in a global geographiccoordinate system.

It can be known that the unmanned aerial vehicle as an execution body ofthis embodiment can obtain the parameter information, selected or inputin advance by the user, such as the position information of the point ofinterest and the surrounding radius, the surrounding direction, and thesurrounding speed needed for forming the surrounding plane.Specifically, the step may obtain the parameter information, preset bythe user, such as the position information of the point of interest, thesurrounding radius, the surrounding direction, and the surroundingspeed, for subsequent use in determining the elevation surroundingtrajectory. The surrounding direction may be clockwise surrounding orcounterclockwise surrounding, and the surrounding speed may specificallyrefer to a speed value in a tangential direction in surrounding flightof the unmanned aerial vehicle.

In S102, an elevation surrounding trajectory to be surrounded isdetermined according to the surrounding parameter information.

In this embodiment, to implement surrounding flight of the unmannedaerial vehicle around a point of interest in a vertical plane, theelevation surrounding trajectory to be surrounded can be determinedbased on the obtained surrounding parameter information by the step, andthe elevation surrounding trajectory can be specifically understood asthe surrounding trajectory on which the unmanned aerial vehicle iscontrolled to perform elevation surrounding flight. The elevationsurrounding trajectory is a plane with the point of interest as a centerand the surrounding radius as a radius, and the plane where theelevation surrounding trajectory is located is perpendicular to ahorizontal plane.

Specifically, in the step, first a user-selected position of a point ofinterest may be extracted from the surrounding parameter information(the position of the point of interest may be represented by spatialcoordinates of the point of interest in the global coordinate system),whereby the vertical plane containing the point of interest can beformed. It can be known that if only the position of the point ofinterest is determined, a plurality of vertical planes with the point ofinterest as a center can be determined, and any determined verticalplane can be used as the elevation surrounding trajectory of thisembodiment.

In S103, a capture viewing angle mode is obtained.

In this embodiment, the capture viewing angle mode can be specificallyused to limit an image capture viewing angle during flying of theunmanned aerial vehicle, and in this embodiment, menu options ofdifferent capture viewing angle modes may be preset for a user to selectthe viewing angle mode. For example, the capture viewing angle mode fora user to select may include a free capture viewing angle mode, adirectional capture viewing angle mode, a centripetal capture viewingangle mode, and the like.

Preferably, the capture viewing angle mode includes a free captureviewing angle mode and a centripetal capture viewing angle mode, thefree capture viewing angle mode means that a photographing direction ofthe photographing apparatus is an arbitrary direction, and thecentripetal capture viewing angle mode means that the photographingdirection of the photographing apparatus always points to the point ofinterest. That is, the free capture viewing angle mode specificallymeans that the photographing apparatus in the unmanned aerial vehiclecan perform photographing in an arbitrary photographing direction, andthe centripetal capture viewing angle mode specifically means that thephotographing apparatus in the unmanned aerial vehicle needs to performphotographing in a photographing direction that points to the point ofinterest.

In S104, the unmanned aerial vehicle is controlled according to thecapture viewing angle mode to fly along the elevation surroundingtrajectory.

It is to be understood that what this embodiment attempts to implementis to control the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly around on the elevationsurrounding trajectory. Generally, for the unmanned aerial vehicle asthe execution body of this embodiment, the unmanned aerial vehicle maybe controlled to perform surrounding flight in different flying modes,and the different flying modes can be limited by different captureviewing angle modes.

In this embodiment, different capture viewing angle modes can be set tocorrespond to different flight control rules, and the flight controlrules may include rules for controlling the flight attitude and flightvelocity of the unmanned aerial vehicle during flying. In thisembodiment, different flight control rules are preset for differentcapture viewing angle modes. The step may be: determining acorresponding flight control rule according to a selected captureviewing angle mode, and controlling, according to different flightcontrol rules, the unmanned aerial vehicle to perform elevationsurrounding flight along the elevation surrounding trajectory.

In the method for elevation surrounding flight control provided inEmbodiment 1 of the present invention, first, surrounding parameterinformation of an unmanned aerial vehicle is obtained; then an elevationsurrounding trajectory to be surrounded is determined according to thesurrounding parameter information; and subsequently, a capture viewingangle mode is obtained, and finally the unmanned aerial vehicle iscontrolled according to the capture viewing angle mode to fly along theelevation surrounding trajectory. By using the method, elevation flightof the unmanned aerial vehicle around a point of interest in differentattitudes based on different image capture viewing angles can beimplemented, thereby providing a wider flight mode for specialinspection scenes such as bridge surrounding inspection and securityinspection, and improving functional practicability of the unmannedaerial vehicle to fly around the point of interest.

Embodiment 2

FIG. 2 a is a schematic flowchart of a method for elevation surroundingflight control according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.Optimization is made in this embodiment based on the above-mentionedembodiment. In this embodiment, controlling, according to the captureviewing angle mode, the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly along theelevation surrounding trajectory further includes: controlling theunmanned aerial vehicle by using a first flight rule to fly along theelevation surrounding trajectory when the capture viewing angle mode isthe free capture viewing angle mode; and controlling the unmanned aerialvehicle by using a second flight rule to fly along the elevationsurrounding trajectory when the capture viewing angle mode is thecentripetal capture viewing angle mode, where the first flight rule andthe second flight rule are different.

As shown in FIG. 2 a , the method for elevation surrounding flightcontrol provided by Embodiment 2 of the present invention specificallyincludes the following operations.

In S201, surrounding parameter information of an unmanned aerial vehicleis obtained.

For example, the surrounding parameter information may be entered by auser by using an input module of the execution body in this embodiment.The surrounding parameter information may specifically include: positioninformation of a point of interest, a surrounding radius, a surroundingdirection, and a surrounding speed that are used for determining theelevation surrounding trajectory, or the like.

In S202, an elevation surrounding trajectory to be surrounded isdetermined according to the surrounding parameter information.

For example, a plane with the point of interest as a center andperpendicular to a horizontal plane may be used as the plane where theelevation surrounding trajectory is located, and then the elevationsurrounding trajectory is formed based on the surrounding radius in thesurrounding parameter information.

In S203, a capture viewing angle mode is obtained.

In S204, if the capture viewing angle mode is a free capture viewingangle mode, S205 is performed; or if the capture viewing angle mode is acentripetal capture viewing angle mode, S206 is performed.

In this embodiment, when the unmanned aerial vehicle is controlled toperform elevation surrounding flight, a photographing apparatus on theunmanned aerial vehicle may capture images in two capture viewing anglemodes. The capture viewing angle mode may include a free capture viewingangle mode and a centripetal capture viewing angle mode. The freecapture viewing angle mode may alternatively be referred to as auniversal capture viewing angle mode, in which one, a pan-tilt head inthe photographing apparatus on the unmanned aerial vehicle may drive thecamera to perform aerial photography at a photographing viewing angle inan arbitrary direction. The centripetal capture viewing angle mode canbe understood as that a lens direction of a camera in the photographingapparatus is always aligned with the viewing angle of the point ofinterest, in which one, the camera can only perform aerial photographywith the photographing viewing angle corresponding to the direction ofthe point of interest.

To implement effective aerial photography under the capture viewingangle mode, in this embodiment, corresponding flight rules correspondingto the capture viewing angle modes are set. In the step, when thecapture viewing angle modes are different, different steps aresubsequently adopted to implement different control of the elevationsurrounding flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle. Specifically, if thecapture viewing angle mode is the free capture viewing angle mode, S205may be performed to implement flight control, or if the capture viewingangle mode is the centripetal capture viewing angle mode, S206 may beperformed to implement flight control.

In S205, the unmanned aerial vehicle is controlled by using a firstflight rule to fly along the elevation surrounding trajectory.

In the step, the first flight rule corresponding to the free captureviewing angle may be used to control the unmanned aerial vehicle toperform elevation surrounding flight. The first flight rule defines thata flight attitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle is the fuselage beingperpendicular to the elevation surrounding trajectory, and the unmannedaerial vehicle maintains the flight attitude all the time during flying.It should be noted that in this flight attitude, the unmanned aerialvehicle is in a state where the top of the unmanned aerial vehicle isupward and all rotors rotate horizontally.

In addition, the first flight rule further defines a velocity channel ofthe unmanned aerial vehicle, which includes a velocity in a verticaldirection and a velocity in a horizontal direction along the left andright sides of the unmanned aerial vehicle. During flying of theunmanned aerial vehicle, the unmanned aerial vehicle may be kept to flyat a uniform speed in tangent directions of the elevation surroundingtrajectory by controlling values of velocities in the two directions.

Further, controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle by using a first flightrule to fly along the elevation surrounding trajectory may specificallybe: controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle to maintain a first flightattitude in which the fuselage is perpendicular to the elevationsurrounding trajectory during flying; during the flying of the unmannedaerial vehicle in the first flight attitude, adjusting a first velocityof the unmanned aerial vehicle at each trajectory point of the elevationsurrounding trajectory, to enable the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly ata uniform speed along the elevation surrounding trajectory.

It is to be understood that in the first flight rule, it is necessary tocontrol the unmanned aerial vehicle to maintain the first flightattitude, the first flight attitude is the fuselage being perpendicularto the elevation surrounding trajectory. In the first flight rule, it isalso necessary to adjust the first velocity of the unmanned aerialvehicle at each trajectory point, and the first velocity is specificallyset according to the first flight attitude, which mainly includes thevelocity in the vertical direction and the velocity in the horizontaldirection along the left and right sides of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

For example, FIG. 2 b is a schematic diagram of a first flight attitudeof the unmanned aerial vehicle when flying along the elevationsurrounding trajectory. As shown in FIG. 2 b , a fuselage of an unmannedaerial vehicle 21 is perpendicular to an elevation surroundingtrajectory 22, the top of the unmanned aerial vehicle 21 is upward, andall rotors rotate horizontally.

In S206, the unmanned aerial vehicle is controlled by using a secondflight rule to fly along the elevation surrounding trajectory.

In the step, the second flight rule corresponding to the centripetalcapture viewing angle may be used to control the unmanned aerial vehicleto perform elevation surrounding flight. The second flight rule definesa flight attitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle being that an axis ofthe fuselage is in the same plane as the elevation surroundingtrajectory, and during flying of the unmanned aerial vehicle, if theunmanned aerial vehicle is at the highest trajectory point or the lowesttrajectory point, mirror adjustment is performed on the current flightattitude, and the unmanned aerial vehicle continuously flies by usingthe flight attitude after the mirror adjustment until reaching thehighest trajectory point or the lowest trajectory point for mirroradjustment again. The purpose of the mirror adjustment is to ensure thata pan-tilt lens can be aligned with the surrounding center of theelevation surrounding trajectory in real time within a rotatable rangeof the pan-tilt head.

In addition, the second flight rule further defines a velocity channelof the unmanned aerial vehicle, which includes a velocity in a verticaldirection and a velocity in a parallel direction of the fuselage. Duringflying of the unmanned aerial vehicle, the unmanned aerial vehicle maybe kept to fly at a uniform speed in tangent directions of the elevationsurrounding trajectory by controlling values of velocities in the twodirections.

Further, controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle by using the secondflight rule to fly along the elevation surrounding trajectory mayspecifically be: controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle to maintain asecond flight attitude in which an axis of the fuselage and theelevation surrounding trajectory are in a same plane during flying,mirror converting the second flight attitude of the unmanned aerialvehicle along a preset axis when the unmanned aerial vehicle flies to ahighest trajectory point or a lowest trajectory point, and using theconverted mirror attitude as a new second flight attitude; and duringthe flying of the unmanned aerial vehicle in the second flight attitude,adjusting a second velocity of the unmanned aerial vehicle at eachtrajectory point of the elevation surrounding trajectory, to enable theunmanned aerial vehicle to fly at a uniform speed along the elevationsurrounding trajectory.

It is to be understood that in the second flying rule, it is necessaryto control the unmanned aerial vehicle to maintain the second flightattitude, the second flight attitude is the axis of the fuselage beingin the same plane as the elevation surrounding trajectory. In the secondflight rule, it is also necessary to adjust the second velocity of theunmanned aerial vehicle at each trajectory point, and the secondvelocity is specifically set according to the second flight attitude andmainly includes the velocity in a direction parallel to the fuselage andthe velocity in the vertical direction. In addition, in this embodiment,the preset axis during mirroring of the second flight attitude mayspecifically be a straight line passing through the highest trajectorypoint and the lowest trajectory point.

For example, FIG. 2 c is a schematic diagram of a second flying attitudeof the unmanned aerial vehicle when flying along the elevationsurrounding trajectory. As shown in FIG. 2 c , an axis of a fuselage ofan unmanned aerial vehicle 23 is in the same plane as an elevationsurrounding trajectory 24, and when the unmanned aerial vehicle flies toa highest trajectory point 25, the flight attitude is mirrored along amirror axis 26. At this point, rotors of the unmanned aerial vehicle 23are kept horizontal and upward during flying, and a pan-tilt lensmaintains a state of corresponding to the surrounding center all thetime.

In addition, it is to be understood that a main purpose of elevationsurrounding flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle in this embodiment isto perform aerial photography, and therefore it is necessary to controlthe photographing apparatus to capture images in a capture modecorresponding to a capture viewing angle mode during flying of theunmanned aerial vehicle. It is to be understood that, in thisembodiment, given that the capture viewing angle mode includes a freecapture viewing angle mode and a centripetal capture viewing angle mode,in different capture viewing angle modes, the pan-tilt head in thephotographing apparatus can be controlled to rotate freely, and thecamera can be controlled to capture an image during rotation of thepan-tilt head, or the pan-tilt head can be adjusted in real time toalign the camera with the center to capture an image.

Specifically, a process of controlling the pan-tilt lens disposed at thevehicle head of the unmanned aerial vehicle to capture an image based onthe capture viewing angle mode can be expressed as: controlling thepan-tilt lens to capture an image in any viewing angle direction whenthe capture viewing angle mode is the free capture viewing angle mode;and controlling and adjusting the viewing angle direction of thepan-tilt lens to be aligned with the surrounding center of the elevationsurrounding trajectory for capturing an image when the capture viewingangle mode is the centripetal capture viewing angle mode.

In this embodiment, the execution body of this embodiment may controlthe photographing apparatus disposed at the vehicle head of the unmannedaerial vehicle, and specifically the viewing angle direction of thecamera when capturing an image can be adjusted by controlling thepan-tilt head. When the capture viewing angle mode is the free captureviewing angle mode, the capture viewing angle direction of the camera inthe photographing apparatus is not limited, and the viewing angledirection of the selected camera can be determined within a maximumrotatable range of rotation of the pan-tilt head in the photographingapparatus. When the capture viewing angle mode is the centripetalcapture viewing angle mode, the capture viewing angle direction of thecamera in the photographing apparatus needs to be aligned with thesurrounding center (that is, a point of interest) of the elevationsurrounding trajectory in real time.

For example, when the unmanned aerial vehicle is at the lowesttrajectory point, a pitching angle of the pan-tilt head needs to becontrolled to be positive 90 degrees, and when the unmanned aerialvehicle is at the highest trajectory point, the pitching angle of thepan-tilt head needs to be controlled to be controlled to be negative 90degrees.

Embodiment 2 of the present invention provides a method for elevationsurrounding flight control, which embodies the implementation process ofthe elevation surrounding flying of the unmanned aerial vehicle indifferent capture viewing angle modes, and also provides the imagecapturing process of the unmanned aerial vehicle in the differentcapture viewing angle modes during the elevation surrounding flying. Byusing the method, elevation flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle arounda point of interest in different attitudes based on different imagecapture viewing angles can be implemented, thereby providing a widerflight mode for special inspection scenes such as bridge surroundinginspection and security inspection, and further a new lens captureviewing angle is provided for intelligent aerial photography by using anunmanned aerial vehicle, thereby effectively improving functionalpracticability of the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly around the point ofinterest.

Embodiment 3

FIG. 3 is structural block diagram of an apparatus for elevationsurrounding flight control according to Embodiment 3 of the presentinvention. The apparatus can be applied to the case of controlling anunmanned aerial vehicle to perform surrounding flight around a point ofinterest. The apparatus may be implemented by using a software and/orhardware mode, and may be specifically integrated in the unmanned aerialvehicle. As shown in FIG. 3 , the apparatus includes an informationobtaining module 31, a trajectory determining module 32, a viewing angleobtaining module 33, and a flight control module 34.

The information obtaining module 31 is configured to obtain surroundingparameter information of the unmanned aerial vehicle, where thesurrounding parameter information includes position information of apoint of interest and a surrounding radius of the unmanned aerialvehicle.

The trajectory determining module 32 is configured to determine,according to the surrounding parameter information, an elevationsurrounding trajectory to be surrounded, where the elevation surroundingtrajectory is a plane with the point of interest as a center and thesurrounding radius as a radius, and the plane where the elevationsurrounding trajectory is located is perpendicular to a horizontalplane.

The viewing angle obtaining module 33 is configured to obtain a captureviewing angle mode, where the capture viewing angle mode includes a freecapture viewing angle mode and a centripetal capture viewing angle mode,the free capture viewing angle mode means that a photographing directionof the photographing apparatus is an arbitrary direction, and thecentripetal capture viewing angle mode means that the photographingdirection of the photographing apparatus always points to the point ofinterest.

The flight control module 34 is configured to control, according to thecapture viewing angle mode, the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly along theelevation surrounding trajectory.

Optionally, the flight control module 34 includes:

-   -   a first control unit, configured to control the unmanned aerial        vehicle by using a first flight rule to fly along the elevation        surrounding trajectory when the capture viewing angle mode is        the free capture viewing angle mode; and    -   a second control unit, configured to control the unmanned aerial        vehicle by using a second flight rule to fly along the elevation        surrounding trajectory when the capture viewing angle mode is        the centripetal capture viewing angle mode, where    -   the first flight rule and the second flight rule are different.

Further, the first control unit is specifically configured to:

-   -   controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle to maintain a first        flight attitude in which the fuselage is perpendicular to the        elevation surrounding trajectory during flying when the capture        viewing angle mode is the free capture viewing angle mode; and    -   during the flying of the unmanned aerial vehicle in the first        flight attitude, adjusting a first velocity of the unmanned        aerial vehicle at each trajectory point of the elevation        surrounding trajectory, to enable the unmanned aerial vehicle to        fly at a uniform speed along the elevation surrounding        trajectory.

Further, the second control unit is specifically configured to:

-   -   controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle to maintain a second        flight attitude in which an axis of the fuselage and the        elevation surrounding trajectory are in a same plane during        flying when the capture viewing angle mode is the centripetal        capture viewing angle mode, mirror converting the second flight        attitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle along a preset axis when        the unmanned aerial vehicle flies to a highest trajectory point        or a lowest trajectory point, and using the converted mirror        attitude as a new second flight attitude; and    -   during the flying of the unmanned aerial vehicle in the second        flight attitude, adjusting a second velocity of the unmanned        aerial vehicle at each trajectory point of the elevation        surrounding trajectory, to enable the unmanned aerial vehicle to        fly at a uniform speed along the elevation surrounding        trajectory.

By the apparatus for elevation surrounding flight control provided inthis embodiment, elevation flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle arounda point of interest in different attitudes based on different imagecapture viewing angles can be implemented, thereby providing a widerflight mode for special inspection scenes such as bridge surroundinginspection and security inspection, and further a new lens captureviewing angle is provided for intelligent aerial photography by using anunmanned aerial vehicle, thereby effectively improving functionalpracticability of the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly around the point ofinterest.

Embodiment 4

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a hardware structure of an unmannedaerial vehicle according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention. Theunmanned aerial vehicle shown in FIG. 4 is only an example and shouldnot impose any limitations on the functionality and scope of use of theembodiments of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4 , the unmannedaerial vehicle provided in Embodiment 4 of the present inventionincludes: a fuselage (not shown), arms (not shown), a power apparatus41, a photographing apparatus 42, a processor 43, and a storageapparatus 44. The arms in the unmanned aerial vehicle of this embodimentare connected to the fuselage, the power apparatus 41 is disposed on thearms, and the photographing apparatus 42 is disposed on the fuselage andconnected to the fuselage. The photographing apparatus 42 includes apan-tilt head and a camera connected to the pan-tilt head. In addition,the processor 43 and the storage apparatus 44 are both disposed in thefuselage, and there may be one or more processors. In FIG. 4 , oneprocessor 43 is used as an example. The power apparatus 41 and thephotographing apparatus 42 in the unmanned aerial vehicle are connectedto the processor 43 through a bus or another method, to receive acontrol instruction from the processor 43. In addition, the processor 43may further be connected to the storage apparatus 44 through a bus oranother method, in FIG. 4 , being connected through a bus is used as anexample.

The storage apparatus 44 in the unmanned aerial vehicle as acomputer-readable storage medium, may be configured to store one or moreprograms. The program may be a software program, a computer executableprogram, and a module, for example, the program instructions/modulescorresponding to the elevation surrounding flying control methodprovided in Embodiment 1 or 2 of the present invention (for example, themodules in the elevation surrounding flying control apparatus shown inFIG. 3 , including: an information obtaining module 31, a trajectorydetermining module 32, a viewing angle obtaining module 33, and a flyingcontrol module 34). The processor 43 runs software programs,instructions, and modules stored in the storage apparatus 44 to executevarious functional applications and data processing of the unmannedaerial vehicle, that is, implementing the method for elevationsurrounding flight control in the above-mentioned method embodiments.

The storage apparatus 44 may include a program storage area and a datastorage area. The program storage area may store an operating system andan application program required for at least one function. The datastorage area may store data created during use of the device and thelike. In addition, the storage apparatus 44 may include a high-speedrandom access memory, and may further include a non-volatile memory suchas at least one disk storage device, a flash memory device, or othernon-volatile solid-state storage devices. In some examples, the storageapparatus 44 may further include memories remotely disposed with respectto the processor 43, and the remote memories may be connected to thedevice over a network. Examples of the networks include, but are notlimited to, the Internet, an intranet, a local area network, a mobilecommunication network, and combinations thereof.

In addition, when the one or more programs included in the unmannedaerial vehicle are executed by the one or more processors 43, theprograms perform the following operations:

-   -   obtaining surrounding parameter information of the unmanned        aerial vehicle, where the surrounding parameter information        includes position information of a point of interest and a        surrounding radius of the unmanned aerial vehicle; determining,        according to the surrounding parameter information, an elevation        surrounding trajectory to be surrounded, where the elevation        surrounding trajectory is a plane with the point of interest as        a center and the surrounding radius as a radius, and the plane        where the elevation surrounding trajectory is located is        perpendicular to a horizontal plane; obtaining a capture viewing        angle mode, where the capture viewing angle mode includes a free        capture viewing angle mode and a centripetal capture viewing        angle mode, the free capture viewing angle mode means that a        photographing direction of the photographing apparatus is an        arbitrary direction, and the centripetal capture viewing angle        mode means that the photographing direction of the photographing        apparatus always points to the point of interest; and        controlling, according to the capture viewing angle mode, the        unmanned aerial vehicle to fly along the elevation surrounding        trajectory.

The embodiments of the present invention provide a computer-readablestorage medium, storing a computer program, where the program, whenbeing executed by a processor, implements the elevation surroundingflying control method provided by all the embodiments of thisapplication: obtaining a capture viewing angle mode and surroundingparameter information preset by a user; determining, according to thesurrounding parameter information, an elevation surrounding trajectoryto be surrounded; and controlling, according to a flight rulecorresponding to the capture viewing angle mode, an unmanned aerialvehicle to fly along the elevation surrounding trajectory.

Any combination of one or more computer-readable media may be adopted.The computer-readable medium may be a computer-readable signal medium ora computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage mediummay be, for example, but is not limited to, electrical, magnetic,optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor systems,apparatuses, or devices, or any combination thereof. More specificexamples (non-exhaustive list) of the computer-readable storage mediainclude: electrical connection having one or more conductors, a portablecomputer disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read onlymemory (ROM), an erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM or flashmemory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disk read only memory(CD-ROM), an optical memory device, a magnetic memory device, or anysuitable combination of the above. In this text, the computer-readablestorage medium may be any tangible medium containing or storing aprogram that may be used by or in conjunction with an instructionexecution system, apparatus, or device.

The computer-readable signal medium may include data signals propagatedin baseband or as part of a carrier wave, in which computer-readableprogram code is carried. Such propagated data signals may be in avariety of forms including but not limited to electromagnetic signals,optical signals, or any suitable combination thereof. Thecomputer-readable signal medium may alternatively be anycomputer-readable medium other than the computer-readable storage mediumthat may transmit, propagate, or transmit a program for use by or inconjunction with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code contained on a computer-readable medium may be transmittedusing any suitable medium including but not limited to wireless, bywire, by an optic cable, RF, or the like. or any suitable combinationthereof.

Computer program code for performing the operations of the presentinvention may be written in one or more programming languages, orcombinations thereof, including object-oriented programming languagessuch as Java, Smalltalk, C++, and further including conventionalprocedural programming languages such as “C” or similar programminglanguages. The program code can be executed entirely on a user computer,partly on the user computer, as a separate software package, partly onthe user computer, partly on a remote computer, or entirely on a remotecomputer or server. In the case of a remote computer, the remotecomputer may be connected to the user computer through any type ofnetworks, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network(WAN), or may be connected to an external computer (for example, beingconnected through the Internet provided by an Internet serviceprovider).

It is to be noted that the above are only preferred embodiments of thepresent invention and the technical principles used. It will beunderstood by those skilled in the art that the present invention is notlimited to the particular embodiments described herein and that varioussignificant changes, readjustments, and substitutions can be made bythose skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the presentinvention. Therefore, although the present invention has been describedin more detail by the above embodiments, the present invention is notlimited to the above embodiments, but may include more other equivalentembodiments without departing from the concept of the present invention,and the scope of the present invention is determined by the scope of theappended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for elevation surrounding flightcontrol, applied to an unmanned aerial vehicle, the unmanned aerialvehicle comprising a fuselage and a photographing apparatus disposed inthe fuselage, and the method comprising: obtaining surrounding parameterinformation of the unmanned aerial vehicle, wherein the surroundingparameter information comprises position information of a point ofinterest and a surrounding radius of the unmanned aerial vehicle;determining, according to the surrounding parameter information, anelevation surrounding trajectory to be surrounded, wherein the elevationsurrounding trajectory comprises a plane with the point of interest as acenter and the surrounding radius as a radius, and the plane where theelevation surrounding trajectory is located is perpendicular to ahorizontal plane; and controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle to flyalong the elevation surrounding trajectory.
 2. The elevation surroundingflight control method according to claim 1, wherein the method furthercomprises: obtaining a capture viewing angle mode, wherein the captureviewing angle mode at least comprises a centripetal capture viewingangle mode, the centripetal capture viewing angle mode is that thephotographing direction of the photographing apparatus always points topoint of the interest; and controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle byusing a second flight rule to fly along the elevation surroundingtrajectory when the capture viewing angle mode is the centripetalcapture viewing angle mode.
 3. The elevation surrounding flight controlmethod according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:obtaining a capture viewing angle mode, wherein the capture viewingangle mode at least comprises a free capture viewing angle mode, thefree capture viewing angle mode means that a photographing direction ofthe photographing apparatus is an arbitrary direction; and controllingthe unmanned aerial vehicle by using a first flight rule to fly alongthe elevation surrounding trajectory when the capture viewing angle modeis the free capture viewing angle mode.
 4. The elevation surroundingflight control method according to claim 1, wherein controlling theunmanned aerial vehicle by using a second flight rule to fly along theelevation surrounding trajectory when the capture viewing angle mode isthe centripetal capture viewing angle mode comprises: controlling theunmanned aerial vehicle to maintain a second flight attitude in which anaxis of the fuselage and the elevation surrounding trajectory are in asame plane during flying when the capture viewing angle mode is thecentripetal capture viewing angle mode, mirror converting the secondflight attitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle along a preset axis whenthe unmanned aerial vehicle flies to a highest trajectory point or alowest trajectory point, and using the converted mirror attitude as anew second flight attitude; and adjusting a second velocity of theunmanned aerial vehicle at each trajectory point of the elevationsurrounding trajectory, during the flying of the unmanned aerial vehiclein the second flight attitude, to enable the unmanned aerial vehicle tofly at a uniform speed along the elevation surrounding trajectory. 5.The elevation surrounding flight control method according to claim 3,wherein controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle by using the firstflight rule to fly along the elevation surrounding trajectory when thecapture viewing angle mode is the free capture viewing angle modecomprises: controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle to maintain a firstflight attitude in which the fuselage is perpendicular to the elevationsurrounding trajectory during flying when the capture viewing angle modeis the free capture viewing angle mode; and adjusting a first velocityof the unmanned aerial vehicle at each trajectory point of the elevationsurrounding trajectory, during the flying of the unmanned aerial vehiclein the first flight attitude, to enable the unmanned aerial vehicle tofly at a uniform speed along the elevation surrounding trajectory.
 6. Anapparatus for elevation surrounding flight control, configured in anunmanned aerial vehicle, the unmanned aerial vehicle comprising afuselage and a photographing apparatus disposed in the fuselage, and theapparatus comprising: at least one processor; and a memory incommunication connection with the at least one processor, wherein thememory stores instructions capable of being executed by the at least oneprocessor, and the instructions, when executed by the at least oneprocessor, cause the at least one processor configured to execute theinstructions to: obtain surrounding parameter information of theunmanned aerial vehicle, wherein the surrounding parameter informationcomprises position information of a point of interest and a surroundingradius of the unmanned aerial vehicle; determine, according to thesurrounding parameter information, an elevation surrounding trajectoryto be surrounded, wherein the elevation surrounding trajectory comprisesa plane with the point of interest as a center and the surroundingradius as a radius, and the plane where the elevation surroundingtrajectory is located is perpendicular to a horizontal plane; andcontrol the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly along the elevationsurrounding trajectory.
 7. The apparatus according to claim 6, whereinthe processor further configured to execute the instructions to: obtaina capture viewing angle mode, wherein the capture viewing angle mode atleast comprises a centripetal capture viewing angle mode, thecentripetal capture viewing angle mode is that the photographingdirection of the photographing apparatus always points to point of theinterest; a second control unit, configured to control the unmannedaerial vehicle by using a second flight rule to fly along the elevationsurrounding trajectory when the capture viewing angle mode is thecentripetal capture viewing angle mode.
 8. The apparatus according toclaim 6, wherein the processor further configured to execute theinstructions to: obtain a capture viewing angle mode, wherein thecapture viewing angle mode at least comprises a free capture viewingangle mode, the free capture viewing angle mode means that aphotographing direction of the photographing apparatus is an arbitrarydirection; a first control unit, configured to control the unmannedaerial vehicle by using a first flight rule to fly along the elevationsurrounding trajectory when the capture viewing angle mode is the freecapture viewing angle mode.
 9. The apparatus according to claim 7,wherein control the unmanned aerial vehicle by using a second flightrule to fly along the elevation surrounding trajectory when the captureviewing angle mode is the centripetal capture viewing angle modecomprises: control the unmanned aerial vehicle to maintain a secondflight attitude in which an axis of the fuselage and the elevationsurrounding trajectory are in a same plane during flying when thecapture viewing angle mode is the centripetal capture viewing anglemode, mirror converting the second flight attitude of the unmannedaerial vehicle along a preset axis when the unmanned aerial vehicleflies to a highest trajectory point or a lowest trajectory point, andusing the converted mirror attitude as a new second flight attitude; andadjust a second velocity of the unmanned aerial vehicle at eachtrajectory point of the elevation surrounding trajectory, during theflying of the unmanned aerial vehicle in the second flight attitude, toenable the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly at a uniform speed along theelevation surrounding trajectory.
 10. The apparatus according to claim8, wherein control the unmanned aerial vehicle by using the first flightrule to fly along the elevation surrounding trajectory when the captureviewing angle mode is the free capture viewing angle mode comprises:control the unmanned aerial vehicle to maintain a first flight attitudein which the fuselage is perpendicular to the elevation surroundingtrajectory during flying when the capture viewing angle mode is the freecapture viewing angle mode; and adjust a first velocity of the unmannedaerial vehicle at each trajectory point of the elevation surroundingtrajectory, during the flying of the unmanned aerial vehicle in thefirst flight attitude, to enable the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly at auniform speed along the elevation surrounding trajectory.
 11. Anunmanned aerial vehicle, comprising: a fuselage; arms connected to thefuselage; power apparatuses disposed on the arms; a photographingapparatus, connected to the fuselage, wherein the photographingapparatus comprises a pan-tilt head and a camera connected to thepan-tilt head; at least one processor disposed in the fuselage; and amemory communicatively connected to the at least one processor, thememory storing instructions executable by the at least one processor,the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, causingthe at least one processor to perform the following operations:obtaining surrounding parameter information of the unmanned aerialvehicle, wherein the surrounding parameter information comprisesposition information of a point of interest and a surrounding radius ofthe unmanned aerial vehicle; determining, according to the surroundingparameter information, an elevation surrounding trajectory to besurrounded, wherein the elevation surrounding trajectory comprises aplane with the point of interest as a center and the surrounding radiusas a radius, and the plane where the elevation surrounding trajectory islocated is perpendicular to a horizontal plane; and controlling theunmanned aerial vehicle to fly along the elevation surroundingtrajectory.
 12. The unmanned aerial vehicle according to claim 11,wherein the processor is further configured to: obtain a capture viewingangle mode, wherein the capture viewing angle mode at least comprises acentripetal capture viewing angle mode, the centripetal capture viewingangle mode is that the photographing direction of the photographingapparatus always points to point of the interest; a second control unit,configured to control the unmanned aerial vehicle by using a secondflight rule to fly along the elevation surrounding trajectory when thecapture viewing angle mode is the centripetal capture viewing anglemode.
 13. The unmanned aerial vehicle according to claim 11, wherein theprocessor is further configured to: obtain a capture viewing angle mode,wherein the capture viewing angle mode at least comprises a free captureviewing angle mode, the free capture viewing angle mode means that aphotographing direction of the photographing apparatus is an arbitrarydirection; and a first control unit, configured to control the unmannedaerial vehicle by using a first flight rule to fly along the elevationsurrounding trajectory when the capture viewing angle mode is the freecapture viewing angle mode.
 14. The unmanned aerial vehicle according toclaim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to: control theunmanned aerial vehicle to maintain a second flight attitude in which anaxis of the fuselage and the elevation surrounding trajectory are in asame plane during flying when the capture viewing angle mode is thecentripetal capture viewing angle mode, mirror converting the secondflight attitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle along a preset axis whenthe unmanned aerial vehicle flies to a highest trajectory point or alowest trajectory point, and using the converted mirror attitude as anew second flight attitude; and adjust a second velocity of the unmannedaerial vehicle at each trajectory point of the elevation surroundingtrajectory, during the flying of the unmanned aerial vehicle in thesecond flight attitude, to enable the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly ata uniform speed along the elevation surrounding trajectory.
 15. Theunmanned aerial vehicle according to claim 13, wherein the processor isfurther configured to: control the unmanned aerial vehicle to maintain afirst flight attitude in which the fuselage is perpendicular to theelevation surrounding trajectory during flying when the capture viewingangle mode is the free capture viewing angle mode; and adjust a firstvelocity of the unmanned aerial vehicle at each trajectory point of theelevation surrounding trajectory, during the flying of the unmannedaerial vehicle in the first flight attitude, to enable the unmannedaerial vehicle to fly at a uniform speed along the elevation surroundingtrajectory.